Camp Hell
by Addie Logan
Summary: Fed up with her rebellious behavior, Spike and Buffy devise what they think is the perfect punishment for their fourteenyearold daughter, Anne. But as Anne quickly finds out, trouble seems to follow a Summers wherever she goes…
1. Chapter One

Disclaimer: I don't own _Buffy the Vampire Slayer _or any of the characters from it. It is the property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox, etc. The original characters in this fic are mine, however, and may not be used elsewhere.

Summary: Fed up with her rebellious behavior, Spike and Buffy devise what they think is the perfect punishment for their fourteen-year-old daughter, Anne. But as Anne quickly finds out, trouble seems to follow a Summers wherever she goes…

Author's Note: This story is part of my Post-Chosen series. Though it can be read as a standalone, if you are interested in reading the rest of the series, it can be found here: and Archiving : Feedback is greatly appreciated, so please, if you enjoy the story, take a moment to let me know. I usually allow archiving, but if I've never given you permission to archive my stories before, please e-mail me and ask me beforehand.

* * *

Anne Summers had known the moment her father and Mr. Giles had come to collect her and her best friend, Rebecca Giles, at the jail, she'd gone too far this time. While her father had never been what she'd call _permissive_, he'd shown an understanding of her need to cause a little mayhem now and then.

Anne had often wondered how far would be _too_ far. Now, she knew.

With Rebecca at her side, Anne looked up at the four stern parental faces staring down at the fourteen year olds seated on the sofa in the Summers family living room. Last night, when her father had brought her home, he'd sent her to her room and told her they'd discuss things in the morning.

Anne had expected yelling. She'd expected to be told she was immediately confined to her room until she was eighty.

Instead, she'd gotten an eerie calm.

Rebecca was squirming beside her, and Anne noticed her friend trying to avoid her own mother's gaze. Anne looked up and immediately shrunk away.

_So that must've been what Anyanka looked like…_

Suddenly, Spike dropped something on the coffee table in front of the girls, and they both jumped.

"What is that?" Anne asked, staring at the large, white packet.

"Pick it up and see for yourself," Spike replied.

Her hands trembling, Anne did as her father said, carefully opening the packet up and pulling out the papers inside.

What she saw made her blood run cold.

Anne looked up at her father, using the wide, pleading eyes that usually got things to go her way. "No. Please, Daddy, I'll be good from now on. I promise! Just…just not this. I'll…I'll do all the chores! I won't even leave my room except to do them for the whole rest of the summer!"

Beside her, Rebecca whimpered.

Afraid Spike would cave in the face of a Summers pout, Buffy stepped forward. "Anne, the four of us got together and talked, and we think this will be for the best. It's really not fair to you girls to keep you cooped up all summer in this city, especially since we can't give you full supervision. Clearly, this _incident_ was a cry for attention. I'd be a neglectful mother if I didn't listen."

"No! No cry! I get lots of attention!" Anne insisted. "It's smothering! That's my problem! I need…more time alone! To contemplate the bad, bad path I'm on."

"Now, now, princess, no arguing with your mother. We only want what's best for both of you."

Anne looked up at Spike, catching the way his lips twitched up in a smirk. And then, she knew.

She wasn't getting out of this. They knew _exactly_ what they were doing. This was tortuous punishment wrapped up in the guise of parental concern.

"We'll be leaving first thing tomorrow," Anya said from where she stood at her husband's side. "The four of us will be escorting you personally on one of the Council's jets."

Any hope Anne had of escape was completely dashed. She might have been able to get away from one of them, but all four? She couldn't, especially if she tried to get Rebecca free, too.

And she couldn't run off without Rebecca. If her best friend was going to suffer all summer, then so was she.

Her shoulders slumped. "This is cruel and unusual punishment, you know," Anne muttered.

"Yes, and our right as parents is to dole it out. Now go pack your things," Spike replied.

Anne gave him one more pleading glance, only to be met with a raised eyebrow and crossed arms.

With a sigh, she trudged off to her room as Rebecca left the flat with her parents.

* * *

"You can't leave us in this hell. It's inhumane."

Buffy glanced over at her daughter, her eyebrow arching as she did. "It's not hell. It's Connecticut."

"Same bloody thing!"

"It's really quite a lovely place," Giles said. "Look at all the nice...foliage."

"We're in the middle of the woods, Da," Rebecca replied, panic creeping into her voice. "Anne and I, we're city girls. We're going to _die_ out here. There's…there's….sunshine and fresh air!"

"Children have been going to summer camp for years and living to tell the tale," Buffy insisted. "Now come on, let's get you girls checked in."

"You're going to feel bad when you come back to pick up our corpses," Anne muttered.

Spike placed his hand on his daughter's shoulder. "You're in this family, princess. Odds are, you'll just come back from the dead before long anyway."

Anne gave him a dirty look. "Not funny."

"Actually, this whole situation is rather amusing when you're looking at it from my perspective." He nudged Anne forward. "Follow your mother."

With an overdramatic sigh, Anne trudged on.

* * *

As soon as she stepped foot into the cabin that would be her home for the next month, Anne's panic grew exponentially. Everywhere she turned was a bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked girl, many of them in _frocks_. And they had parents in sweater vests.

The horror was more than she could take.

She turned to her father, grabbing on to the material of his black T-shirt. "Daddy, please, don't leave me here. You love me too much to subject me to this, I know you do."

His scarred eyebrow went up. "Annie, I'm doing this _because_ I love you."

Anne let go of her father's shirt. "No! You're doing this because you want to torture me," she insisted, stomping her little booted foot.

"Well, yeah, a little of that, too, but mainly it's love," Spike replied with a smirk.

"Oh, look what we have here! First-time campers!"

Anne's eyes grew wide as two of the parents approached the group, their child in tow.

"Hi, I'm Cheryl, and this is my husband, Daryl," the woman said, smiling brightly as she shook Buffy's hand. "Our little Caryl has been coming here since she was ten, and she's so excited to be starting a new year. Who's your little darling?"

"I'm Buffy, and this is my husband, William," Buffy replied before dropping Cheryl's hand. "And our daughter is Anne."

Anne tried to back away, but Buffy grabbed her shoulders and moved her back in front.

"Oh, isn't she precious?"

Anne opened her mouth to inform the woman she was anything _but_ precious, and ask her if she'd like a demonstration complete with broken bones, but before she could say anything, Buffy squeezed her shoulder. _Hard_.

"She's our little pride and joy," Buffy replied with a wide smile.

Anne whimpered.

"And who is this?" Cheryl asked, turning her attention to the Giles family.

"This is our daughter Rebecca," Anya replied, her hands firmly clamped on her daughter's shoulders. "My name is Anya and my husband is Rupert. We didn't attempt a clever rhyming scheme with our names since mine sounds nothing like his and nothing decent rhymes with Rupert anyway."

Cheryl laughed a little too loudly. "Oh, you caught our little bit of family fun! Well, Daryl and I just _couldn't_ resist keeping the family rhyming with our names being what they are! Our younger daughter is Meryl—she can't _wait_ until she's old enough to join Caryl at camp!"

Anya nodded. "Well, I'm sure our daughters will get along very well."

Rebecca turned, her eyes pleading for sympathy from her parents. When she found none, she sighed and slumped.

Anne glanced over and caught Rebecca's eyes.

Maybe if they just stuck together, they'd manage to survive…

"You're just going to leave?" Rebecca asked, panicking again.

"We have a long flight back to London, dear," Giles replied evenly.

"So stay longer! Or hey, let's just call the whole thing off so you don't have to make all these crazy transatlantic flights."

"I'll see you in a month, Rebecca."

"This is cruel! There's no way we'll enjoy ourselves here at all!" Rebecca protested.

"Of course not," Anya said. "I knew darn good and well when I came up with this that it would be the last way you girls would want to spend your summer. That's why it's _punishment_."

Anne and Rebecca both turned to Anya, gaping. "You did this?" Rebecca asked, betrayed.

"Well, of course. You don't spend 1120 years as a vengeance demon without getting creative." Anya grinned. "Actually, I'm rather proud of this one."

"Da! You can't do this!" Anne said, trying one more time. "Can you live with yourself knowing I'm suffering—in another country?"

Spike pretended to ponder it for a moment before he replied with, "Yeah, I think I can—after that stunt the two of you pulled."

"You girls just behave yourselves," Buffy said. "Any acting up, and you're spending another month here, got it?"

Anne whimpered. Rebecca nodded reluctantly.

Somewhere in the distance, children began to sing.

"Oh god…that's 'Kumbaya.' Don't make me be around people who sing 'Kumbaya!'" Anne begged.

"Good-bye, princess. See you in a month," Spike said as he dropped a kiss on the top of his daughter's head.

"This is evil."

Spike grinned. "Yeah, I know."

With a brief good-bye to their children, the four adults walked away.

"We can make our escape now and spend the next month living in the woods," Anne said, her expression serious.

"It's the only chance we have," Rebecca replied. "Let's go."

They started towards the woods, only to stop short at the sound of someone behind them. "Hello there, wayward campers! Lose your way back to the cabins?"

Rebecca and Anne turned to see a scarily-chipper camp counselor who had introduced himself at orientation as Dan. "We were, uh, just saying good-bye to our folks," Anne said.

Dan went behind the girls and wrapped his arms around their shoulders. "Well, all the parents are gone now, so it's time for the fun to begin! We have a special event planned for all the campers tonight. And you sweet little girls get to wear pretty dresses!"

Anne paled. "Dresses? I don't have a dress."

"You didn't bring one?" Dan asked, frowning. "I thought all little girls loved dresses."

"I don't _own_ one," Anne clarified.

"Neither do I," Rebecca replied.

"Well, I guess that's not too much of a problem," Dan said, his smile returning. "We have something special on hand for times like these. Come on!"

Their escape plan thwarted for the time being, Rebecca and Anne let Dan lead them back to camp.

* * *

"There. Aren't you just a lovely little vision!"

Anne looked at her reflection in the mirror as another one of the counselors, Carrie, tied a bow in her hair.

Never in her life had Anne worn a pink, frilly frock dress. Never had she even _thought_ it would happen.

_She was in hell._

Beside her, Rebecca wore the same dress, only in yellow. They exchanged a look of shared misery.

"Now if we could just find you some shoes. Those boots really don't go well with your dress, sweetie," Carrie said to Anne.

Anne balked at the idea of losing her boots. Sure, black combat boots and a frilly pink dress didn't exactly match, but wearing them was all she had left that made her feel like herself.

"They're orthopedic!" she said quickly. "I have to wear them or…my arches will fall! It's tragic, really."

"Oh, you poor thing," Carrie said, patting Anne on the shoulder. "Well, then I guess we'll just have to give these to Miss Rebecca."

Rebecca glared at Anne as Carrie handed her a pair of patent leather Mary Janes. "Sorry," Anne mouthed behind the counselor's back.

Once Rebecca had put on the shoes, Carrie led them back to their own cabin, where the other girls were already waiting.

A blonde girl smirked as Anne walked in. "Nice shoes."

"Melissa, be nice," Carrie admonished the other camper. "Anne has fallen arches."

Melissa snorted.

Anne groaned.

Carrie stepped away from Rebecca and Anne and clapped her hands. "All right, happy campers, it's the first night of our summer together, and some of you already know what that means. It's time for our special getting-to-know-you dinner!"

At that moment, Anne didn't think the night could get any worse.

_Then, it did_.

"Now, as we explained at orientation, every cabin is paired up with another cabin of the opposite gender—the brother and sister cabins. Tonight, one of the fine young gentlemen from your brother cabin will be your 'date.'"

Anne's eyebrow arched. Did Carrie _actually_ just use air quotes? And _oh god_, did she just say she was going to have to go on a date with one of those wankers over in the brother cabin?

"Tonight is the night when all of you young ladies get to be Cinderella," Carrie continued. "Now, all of you take off one of your shoes and put it in a pile right over there in the middle of the room. Then, we'll let the boys from your brother cabin in to pick a shoe. Whoever picks your shoe is your 'date' for the night!"

Squealing and giggling with delight, everyone but Rebecca and Anne rushed to take off a shoe and place it in the pile. Anne stared in horror.

"Sweetheart, are you concerned because of your special shoes?" Carrie asked with an overly-concerned frown.

"No, I'm concerned because I still think boys have cooties," Anne snapped.

"Now, now, I understand how hard it is to be 'different,' but the campers here are accepting of everyone. Go on, it's okay."

Anne sighed. Carrie's air quotes alone were just about enough to break her spirit. "Come on, Becca. Let's get this over with." She unlaced her boot and tossed it in the pile. Somehow, it gave her a tiny thrill to see the marked difference between it and all the others.

The boys from the brother cabin filed into the room, making their way to the pile of shoes. Anne wasn't surprised when she saw hers overlooked, but groaned when the obvious runt of the litter was the one stuck with it.

He came over to her, boot in hand. "Is this yours? My name's Todd."

Anne took her boot. "I'm Anne. Keep your hands off me at all times, and we'll get along in that 'I don't break any of your parts' way. Got it?"

Todd swallowed, his eyes going wide. "Got it."

"Good." Anne glanced over at Rebecca to see her with some squishy-faced jock boy.

_Yeah, this was hell…

* * *

_


	2. Chapter Two

They were led into the dining hall, which was decorated for the occasion with paper streamers and battery-operated candle-shaped lights.

"It's like Paul Bunyan's prom," Anne whispered to Rebecca as the girls walked in with their "dates."

"Why couldn't our parents just chain us up in the closet and feed us stale bread crusts and water like normal people?" Rebecca whispered back.

"Because they're evil."

"So not bloody fair."

"Tell me about it," Anne grumbled. "I feel like a deranged escapee from _Little House on the Prairie_."

"You look like one, Laura," Rebecca replied.

"Yeah, well, so do you. And don't call me that name. I've never liked it for some reason." Anne shivered.

They approached the tables then, and, per the instructions of the counselors, the boys pulled out the chairs for their dates of the evening. "Oh, what lovely, gentlemen," Anne muttered under her breath.

It wasn't long before their dinner came out, and Anne stared down at the mass-produced food on her plate in horror. She was _British_ and she was scared to touch the stuff.

From beside her, Rebecca leaned over and whispered in her ear, "What the bloody hell is that?"

"I haven't a single clue," Anne whispered back, her nose wrinkled. "It looks like something Da killed the other night—complete with ooze."

The other campers, however, seemed to have no problem with the questionable food on their plates. Anne wondered if perhaps they were even more insane than she'd previously thought.

"Aren't you girls hungry?"

Anne and Rebecca looked up as Carrie clamped her hands down on their shoulders. "I was before I had to look at this," Anne replied, gesturing down to her plate of questionable lumps.

"Now, that's not a very polite thing to say!" Carrie said with an over-exaggerated frown. "It sounds like someone's having a hard time catching the camper spirit!"

"Is that anything like catching the clap?" Anne asked, her eyes wide with feigned innocence.

Carrie jerked her hands away, her cheery disposition going away in an instant. "Eat your dinner, girls," she said coldly before she resumed walking the length of the table.

Anne watched the counselor for a moment, something niggling at her senses before she shook it off, chalking it up to the strangeness of the situation over all.

"I'll eat it if you will," Rebecca said, regaining Anne's attention. She stabbed a brown glob with a fork, relieved when it didn't scream.

"Could be worse. Could be Aunt Dawn's cooking," Anne replied. She sighed. "Oh well, this or starve, I suppose."

With a shared grimace, the girls began to eat their meal.

* * *

After dinner, Anne had hoped the whole thing would just be over. Granted, it was still early in the evening, but she'd welcome going to bed—she'd rather be unconscious than aware of being in this place.

However, luck was not with her. Apparently, the whole shoe date extravaganza also included a dance. With streamers and teeny bopper music.

It was enough to make Anne want to heave.

She sat in a chair on the edge of the make-shift dance floor of the gym with Rebecca on one side and Todd on the other.

Rebecca's "date" for the night had long since run off with Melissa. Anne had had no such luck ditching Todd. He'd barely spoken a word, yet the boy continued to cling.

She leaned over and whispered in Rebecca's ear, "Can't you like, make this place burst into flames or something? At least make the bloody stereo explode."

Rebecca shook her head. "Da said no magic. He said he'd know, and then I'd be in even more trouble." She sighed heavily. "He always seems to know, no matter how sneaky I think I'm being. It's so not fair."

Anne groaned as she watched Counselor Dan approach. She was already suffering enough—couldn't these people just leave her alone? "Don't you girls want to get up and dance?" he asked, his tone chipper enough to make Anne want to kill something.

"No," Anne replied. She glanced down at her feet and decided to see if she could get some extra mileage out of her earlier falsehood. "I have fallen arches, see. Dancing causes me all sorts of pain. And Rebecca here is being a good friend and putting her own enjoyment aside to make sure I don't have to suffer alone."

"She's always been right upset that she isn't allowed to dance, due to her tragic medical condition," Rebecca added. "I couldn't dance in good conscience knowing she'd be alone."

"Well, I certainly won't make you do something that would aggravate a medical condition. We have to keep all you kids strong and healthy!" Dan replied. "And it is good of you to stay with your friend." He stepped to the side and pulled Todd up from his chair, ignoring the boy's protests. "But you need to be having fun!"

Dan toted the boy towards the dance floor, leaving Rebecca and Anne on their own again.

"Who would've thought freaky Dan would come in handy?" Anne asked, stretching out now that she was free of her quiet, yet annoying with his mere presence, date.

"And you're really milking this whole 'fallen arches' thing," Rebecca pointed out with an arched eyebrow.

"Says the girl who's right along for the ride. But really, anything to keep away from that lot of patheticness." Anne gestured towards the congregation on the dance floor. "What exactly is that weird jerky, lumbering thing all the boys are doing?"

Rebecca giggled. "I'm pretty sure they think they're dancing."

"Then my toes thank me for staying put." She sighed. "We _so_ need to escape."

"How exactly are we going to do that?" Rebecca asked. "We can't go home before the summer's over; our parents would wring out necks. And if we leave, then the camp is sure to call them anyway, and they'll come over here looking for us—which you and I both know would result in our speedy capture."

"Yeah, I know, but I still think we should at least _try_ for an escape. Sure, once they find us, our parents will have our heads, but what can they do to us that's possibly worse than this?"

Rebecca glanced between the two of them and their nearly-identical frock dresses, then out towards the dance floor itself before she grimaced. "I can't think of anything worse. I think I'd rather just go back to jail."

Anne leaned in towards Rebecca, keeping her voice low enough so that no one but Rebecca herself could hear it over the music. "So we make a break for it tonight, after everyone else is asleep. We get as far as we can and try to avoid capture until they can't make us come back here."

"Just no magic. That would be the quickest way to alert my parents that something was up. I'm fairly certain my father has done some sort of spell to let him know when _I_ do a spell, only he won't tell me what so I can't counteract it." She crossed her arms over his chest. "I hate it when he's wily."

"My dad doesn't even need magic. He just _knows_ everything I do. Half the things I try to get away with he can smell, which is completely unfair."

"If we run, how easy will it be for him to track us?" Rebecca asked.

"We'll have a head start, plus, I know how to disguise my scent. He made the mistake of teaching me that one before he realized I could someday use it on him," Anne replied with a small smirk. "We'll be good for at least a while."

"Okay, everybody, gather 'round, because tonight, we're going to learn a new, fun way to dance. It's called Square Dancing!"

Dan's announcement caused Rebecca and Anne to share a look as they blessed Anne's faux-fallen arches.

_They needed to get away from there fast, consequences be damned.

* * *

_

"I can't _believe_ they let losers like _them_ in here."

From the bunk beneath Rebecca's, Anne's eyebrow arched. "Melissa? Which was that exactly: You thinking you're being sneaky by saying something derogatory about us loud enough that we could hear or you actually being stupid enough to think we're deaf?"

Melissa turned away from where she'd gathered with her gaggle of friends, and looked at Anne in shock. Obviously, she wasn't used to people responding to her like that.

Still, she tossed her hair. "Whatever. I don't care that you know I think you're a loser."

"And I don't care you think that," Anne replied coolly. "Honestly, I take derision from people like you as a compliment."

"Huh?" Melissa asked, blinking.

"Oh, right, you're an idiot," Anne said with a roll of her eyes. "Guess I should tone down the vocabulary."

From her bunk, Rebecca snorted.

"You two think you're, like, all cool and stuff, but I know you're really just jealous because you're not pretty and popular like me," Melissa replied, her expression smug.

This time, Rebecca burst into full out laughter.

"Okay, little miss deluded, first off, I am prettier than you ever _dreamed_ of being. And secondly, I thank my lucky stars every day that I'm nothing like you." Anne waved her hand. "But by all means, carry on with your catty gossip. Why am I a loser, exactly? I'm sure your friends are all waiting with bated breath for the rest of your oh-so-interesting observations."

Realizing what was happening, Melissa's friends began to giggle. Melissa looked flustered, until she finally snapped, "I have better things to do than talk about the two of you."

Anne smiled, the expression taking on more than a hint of her father. "Yeah, that's what I thought."

With a huff, Melissa got up and stomped over to her bunk.

* * *

Once the cabin was filled with the steady, even breathing of sleeping girls, Anne got out of her own bunk, tapping discretely above her head on the bottom of Rebecca's mattress as she did.

Rebecca climbed down the bunk silently, sharing eye contact and a nod with Anne before they slipped out of the cabin.

Once outside, Anne blinked, letting her eyes grow accustomed to the darkness of a wilderness night. It was different than the city-lit London nights she was used to, but her demonically enhanced eyes quickly adjusted. She took hold of Rebecca's arm, leading the other girl towards the woods.

Anne had no fear of getting lost. Her father had seen to it that her tracking skills were nothing short of exceptional. She could find civilization. If nothing else, the smell of greasy hamburgers would lead her right to it.

However, she never got her chance. Right before they reached the edge of the woods, a figure stepped out of the shadows, making Anne come to a jerky stop.

"Out for a late night stroll, girls?" Dan asked, his eyebrow arched upwards and his hands planted firmly on his hips.

"We just wanted to get a head start on that wilderness trail activity planned for the morning," Anne said, even though she knew it was about the lamest excuse she could come up with. But then again, what _could_ she say? They were inarguably busted.

"Leaving the cabins after lights out is not permitted, at any time, under any circumstance," Dan said sternly. "The woods are a dangerous place for little girls."

For a second, Anne thought she saw something flicker in his eyes, but she dismissed it as a trick of the lack-of-light.

"Well, we'll just be heading back then," Rebecca said from beside Anne. "No late night treks in the woods for us."

Dan grabbed both of the girl's by their arms. "I will be escorting you back to your cabins to make certain you find your way back."

"Ow!" Anne exclaimed as Dan squeezed her forearm. "Watch it there. I don't think you're supposed to be manhandling the campers."

"And you're not supposed to be wandering around now," Dan replied evenly. He brought the girl's back to their cabin, giving their arms one more squeeze before he let them go. "I'm going to let this slide this time since no real harm was done, but rest assured, there will be dire consequences, should I catch you trying to sneak off again."

"Yeah, all right then," Anne grumbled. "We're going to bed."

Dan opened the cabin door, allowing Anne and Rebecca to step back inside before shutting them in. Silently, the two girls went over to Anne's bunk and sat down on the edge.

"I guess we're stuck here then," Rebecca whispered.

Anne shook her head. "No. We'll just have to be more careful, is all. The counselors are more alert than we thought—now we know that. We'll try again tomorrow and be sneakier about it. I mean, what are they really going to do if we keep acting up—expel us?"

"Good point," Rebecca replied. "I guess for now, we just try to suffer through tomorrow."

Anne nodded. "Hopefully it won't be too horrendous."

"I'll keep my fingers crossed." Rebecca stood with a soft sigh. "Good night, Annie."

"Good night, Becca."

Without another whispered word, Rebecca climbed back up to her own bunk.

* * *


	3. Chapter Three

The sun had just begun to peep over the horizon when the door to the cabin burst open, Counselor Carrie announcing loudly in a voice so chipper Anne thought it should be illegal, especially first thing in the morning, "Rise and shine, campers! It's time to wake up and see this beautiful day!"

Anne groaned, just as she heard Rebecca whimper in the bunk above her. It was too bloody early as far as Anne was concerned, and she pulled her sheet over her head.

Only to have Carrie then whip it off of her… "Come on, time to get up! It's a gorgeous morning—you don't want to miss it by being a sleepy head!"

Anne looked at Carrie, meeting her eyes. "There's nothing that goes on before noon that's worth seeing. I've done the research."

Carrie frowned for a moment, Anne's reply taking her aback, before she recovered and her smile returned. "Sure there is! Now get on up, lazy bones!"

Grumbling, Anne gave in and got out of the bunk. It wasn't like she could get anymore sleep with the overly-cheery counselor harassing her anyway.

Pleased that she'd managed to get Anne out of bed, Carrie walked off, still smiling. Moments later, Rebecca jumped down from her own bunk and landed on her feet beside Anne. "Why are they doing this to us?" Rebecca bemoaned.

"Because it's peppy prison camp," Anne replied. "I hope our parents are happy with their evilness."

"Somehow, I think they probably are," Rebecca said.

"Okay, everybody, be in the dining hall in thirty minutes for breakfast!" Carrie announced before leaving the cabin.

Rebecca and Anne shared a sigh of resignation.

* * *

Anne swatted a bug that dared come near her face. Never would she understand the appeal of the "great outdoors." Why anyone would want to go traipsing through the bloody woods when there was plenty of civilization out there was beyond her.

Yet there she was, walking in a line of campers, suffering through being surrounded by nature. She hoped her parents were pleased with themselves…

To make matters even worse, everyone—apart from herself and Rebecca—were singing some inane camp song. It seemed like they were always singing. They'd even been singing in the dining hall before breakfast.

Anne tried her best to just tune it out, but the melodies were insidious, working their way into her mind, no matter how hard she tried to hum the Ramones to herself and fight it.

_She couldn't think of a time when she had wanted more to be sedated…_

Rebecca came up as close to Anne as she could without bumping into her friend, and asked low enough so only Anne could hear, "What the hell is a bunny foo foo, and why are they singing about it?"

Anne snickered. "I haven't a clue. Probably something that would make your mother run in terror, though."

Rebecca tried to respond with a dirty look, though she couldn't stop her smirk. "Yeah, probably," she conceded after a moment.

Just then, Counselor Dan stepped up to walk beside the two girls. "You aren't singing. You're supposed to be singing."

"Aren't you supposed to be all stealthy-like in the woods?" Anne asked. "I mean, we're like, tipping bears off to our location, aren't we?"

"Sing with the rest of the campers, or I'm escorting you on an extra wilderness hike," Dan snapped, the tone of his voice taking Anne and Rebecca both by surprise. "I've had enough of the attitude from you two."

At the threat of more pointless walking through the woods, the two girls began to sing with the others.

Looking pleased with himself, Dan retreated to the back of the line.

* * *

"Chew, chew, chew your food  
Gently through your meal.  
The more you chew, the less you eat  
The better you will feel!"

As soon as the singing began—again—Anne sighed and slumped in her uncomfortable dining hall chair. If you felt better the less you ate, then she was sure she would soon start feeling wonderful since all the spontaneous bursting into song was making her lose her appetite.

"Wait! Nobody touch their food yet!"

Counselor Dan's call made the entire group of campers freeze. Anne felt dread wash over her, knowing, somehow, this was not going to go well for her.

"Two of our campers didn't sing along," Dan said, an exaggerated frown on his face. "They seem to be having a hard time getting into the spirit of things around here."

"That's because they're _losers_," Melissa whispered to her friends, who immediately began to giggle, as if Melissa's comment was truly something clever.

"I think we need to help them stop being such Broody Bessies," Dan continued, eliciting an angered gasp from Anne. Her, _broody_? Not bloody likely!

"So, in order to help them catch the spirit of camping fun, they're going to lead us in a special lunch time sing along!"

"What?!" Anne and Rebecca yelled in unison.

"You _cannot_ be serious," Rebecca protested.

"We are," Carrie said as she came up behind the girls and pulled them to their feet. "Now up to the front of the dining hall with both of you—time to sing!"

Anne glared at the woman as she led them up front to Dan. She knew she could never act on the homicidal urges going through her now, but boy were they fun to indulge in mentally.

"We don't know any of these songs you keep singing," Rebecca protested. "They don't, um, have them in England. We're completely camp-song free across the Pond."

Anne nodded vigorously. "She's right. We can't lead anyone."

"Don't worry about that, girls," Dan said with a grin Anne was sure could be categorized as sadistic. "For this song, all you have to do is repeat after me. Now, on the count of three: one, two three. The other day…"

Sharing a look before they conceded temporary defeat, Anne and Rebecca sang back. "The other day…"

"I met a bear…"

"I met a bear…"

"Out in the woods…"

"Out in the woods…"

"A-way out there…"

"A-way out there…"

"Altogether now campers!" Dan cried. "He said to me…"

* * *

After lunch, Anne was fairly certain the day would contain nothing but misery. Standing in front of those idiotic little campers and singing that brainless song had ranked fairly high on her list of most embarrassing moments, and she couldn't wait to get home to rake her father over the coals for it.

How _dare_ he do this to her?! He was supposed to spoil her, not ship her off to be tortured in Connecticut.

Then, she heard a word that didn't fill her with dread and disgust.

_Archery_.

Sure, the bow she was holding on to now as she stood a few feet away from a large target wasn't like the crossbows she was used to at home, but it was suitable for flinging sharp projectiles, and that was good enough in Anne's book.

"Okay, Anne, remember how I demonstrated shooting the arrow before we began?" Carrie asked with her normal big smile.

"Yeah, I remember. Can I shoot this thing now?" Anne asked.

"Sweetie, you're not in the proper position."

"That's because the one you showed isn't a good one unless I _want_ to miss the target," Anne replied, with a roll of her eyes.

"Fine, young lady, if you want to refuse to learn from anyone, then you can just…"

Before Carrie could finish her admonition, Anne had let the arrow go, striking the center of the bull's-eye perfectly. She turned to the counselor, her eyebrow arching upwards. "You were saying?"

Carrie blinked, then scoffed. "It was a lucky shot. Next!"

"It bloody well was not!" Anne protested, insulted that her skills be brushed off in such a manner. "You're just upset because I showed you up."

"You know, little missy, I think I've had enough of your backtalk," Carrie said, her hands planted firmly on her hips. "Return to your cabin for the rest of the afternoon."

Anne gaped. Finally, something she actually _liked_ doing, and _now_ they chose to send her back to her cabin? Why couldn't they have done that earlier, during the hike? Or during the lunch from hell? She'd rather starve than be forced to sing some stupid song about a bear in front of a room full of people…

But no, she was being forced to skip out on archery. _Life was so beyond not fair…_

Too sick of it all to even argue the point, Anne thrust the bow back at Carrie and stormed off towards the cabin, stopping just long enough to give Rebecca a small smile in response to her look of sympathy.

* * *

Anne marched back to the cabin and threw herself on the bunk, trying to at least take comfort in the fact she could now have some alone time. She found little respite in the thought, however, and soon pulled herself back up to a sitting position, her knees resting beneath her chin as she wiped roughly at her tears before they had a chance to roll down her cheeks.

She _hated_ this. She knew she'd messed up big this time and, if she were being honest with herself, she knew hadn't exactly been a model daughter as of late. But to be sent away to a place like this one? Her parents knew he well enough to know she'd be nothing but miserable here—probably more so than she would have been in actual jail. She hated being in a place where she couldn't fit in at all even if, truth be told, she didn't want to fit in with these overly-cheery freaks.

_God, she was bloody miserable…_

From outside the cabin, Anne could hear people singing again. She couldn't make out the words, but they sounded happy. Maybe she should just give into the whole thing, play along with their stupid games and sing-a-longs until she could go home where things would be normal again.

What would it really hurt anyway? If anything, it might make the days go faster. And perhaps, if she just let herself get swept up in the whole camp momentum, then she'd find a little fun somewhere. Sure, it wouldn't be the sort of fun she was used to back home in England, but people did enjoy this whole getting back to nature thing, so perhaps there was merely something she was overlooking.

Anne started humming along with the song, trying to get the feel for it. Sure, the lyrics were utter shite, but at least it was a catchy tune.

The door to the cabin opened, and Anne looked up as Counselor Dan walked in and over to her bunk, taking a seat on the end across from her. "I heard you had a little trouble with Counselor Carrie," he said.

"I didn't mean to this time," Anne replied. "Honestly, I didn't. This place, it's just…" She paused for a moment to sigh heavily. "It's not my sort of place."

"I know, but I bet it could be your sort of place," Dan said. He leaned forward. "Do you know what I think? I think you're trying so hard to be like a grown up that you're missing all the fun of being a kid. You'll have lots of time later to be a grown up later, Anne. Just let go of all that teen angst and have fun for a little while, okay? Can you at least try that?"

Anne nodded. "I can try."

"Great!" Dan exclaimed, his wide smile coming back again. "Come on, everyone's about to start playing a super fun game. Let's go join them."

"Okay," Anne replied softly.

"Come on, camper!" Dan said as he jumped up from the bed. "It's time to have lots of fun!"

Resolved to make the most of her situation, Anne followed Counselor Dan out of the cabin.

* * *


	4. Chapter Four

"Okay everybody, today we're going to play a game called Escape from the Monster," Carrie announced to the group of campers gathered around her. "In this game, we'll choose four of you to be the 'monsters.'" As she spoke, she used her over-exaggerated air quotes along with the word "monsters," and Anne almost rolled her eyes before she remembered she was trying not to do that anymore.

"Around our 'monsters,'" _more air quotes_, "most of the rest of you will form a circle. Now, the object of this game will be for one of our three 'monster hunters' to get past the monsters and steal their 'treasure.' In order to 'kill' the monsters, you have to place one of these special circles around their heads." Carrie held up a tied off piece of rope for everyone to see.

"However, it won't be as easy as all that," Dan continued for her, taking a step forward. "The 'monsters,'" _apparently air quotes were infectious_, "will be given 'magic stones' to fight off the 'monster hunters.'" Dan lifted up a red bean bag, identifying it as one of the so-called magic stones. "And, just to make this a little more challenging…" From his pocket, Dan produced a strip of cloth and held it up in the air. "Our 'monsters' will be blindfolded!"

"So how are the monsters supposed to know when the monster hunters are coming so they can hit them with the magic stones and protect their treasure?" one of the campers asked.

"That's where the circle comes in," Carrie replied. "It'll be up to you guys in the circle to shout out to our monsters and let them know where the attack is coming from. So is everyone ready to get started?"

Anne frowned, trying to piece together the rules to the game. Four people were going to sit inside of a circle, blindfolded, throwing beanbags at other campers while getting directions shouted at them by a large group of people? That was the most ridiculous thing she'd ever… _No…_ Anne shook her head. She shouldn't dismiss it outright like that. The other campers seemed excited. Hell, even Rebecca, who she could see on the other side of the crowd, seemed to be interested. And hey, pelting her fellow campers with beanbags—where was the bad in that?

When Carrie called out the names for the "monsters," Anne couldn't say she was surprised to be one of the ones stuck in the middle. But she couldn't complain, seeing as the four campers who got to be armed seemed like the ones who would have the most fun in her book.

Suppressing the normal reaction she'd have to someone blindfolding her, Anne let Dan tie the cloth around her eyes as the other campers formed their circle. Carrie called out ten more names for the "monster hunters," and Anne was relieved to hear Rebecca wouldn't be among them, since she was the one person she didn't want to attack with projectiles.

Melissa on the other hand, _was_ the person she most wished to smack, and it seemed like she was going to get her chance.

Dan blew the whistle to signal the start of the game, and Anne immediately drew in a deep breath, pushing out the sounds of discordant yelling from the circle. She didn't need their directions—not when the heartbeats of all the so-called "monster hunters" were going a mile a minute.

She caught the scent of Melissa's too-heavy perfume, turned her head, and launched the beanbag, hitting her right in the middle of the head. Melissa gasped and stumbled back, hitting the grass with her bottom.

"Hey! That was too good of a shot!" Melissa protested. "She's peeking through the blindfold!"

"I didn't see any peeking," Dan called back. "You're out, Melissa. Join the circle."

Melissa muttered angrily as she stormed over to the circle, and Anne smiled to herself, another beanbag in her hand as she sought out her next victim.

_Perhaps this summer camp thing wasn't so bad after all…

* * *

_

"I was happy to see you seem to be catching the camper spirit!" Dan said as he walked up behind Anne after the game and clamped his hand on her shoulder.

Smiling slightly, Anne shrugged. "That wasn't so bad. It was actually…kinda fun."

"See! There's lots of fun to be had here, Annie—you just have to let yourself have it."

"I'm trying," Anne admitted.

"Glad to hear it! Now head on back to your cabin and get cleaned up for dinner." With that, Dan jogged off, and Anne made her way back to the cabin.

"Hey, Anne!" Rebecca exclaimed with a bright smile as Anne returned the cabin. "Good work today with the monster escape game."

"Thanks," Anne replied, returning the smile. "It was actually pretty fun."

"This place isn't as bad as I thought it was," Rebecca said. "I had a good time this afternoon. And you know, I'm actually sort of looking forward to the campfire gathering tonight."

"Surprisingly, I think I am, too," Anne replied, her smile growing a little. "Those songs really aren't as horrible to sing as I thought."

"I know. Sorta catchy," Rebecca said. "And more fun to sing with the group than I thought they'd be."

From outside the cabin, they head Carrie call out, "Come on, campers! Time for dinner!"

Arms linked together, Anne and Rebecca left the cabin.

* * *

"Eat, eat, eat your meal,  
The better you will feel.  
The more you eat,  
The less you talk,  
The better you will feel!"

As the dining hall broke into song this time, Anne and Rebecca let themselves fall right into step. After all, neither of them really wanted to go up front again. Besides, as they'd both started to realize, it really wasn't so bad at all.

Even the meatloaf on her plate looked more appetizing than Anne would've imagined a meatloaf would seem. _She didn't think her parents had ever tried to feed her one…_

Anne took a bite, tasted it, then dug into the rest of the meal with relish.

"John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt,  
His name is my name, too!  
Whenever we go out, the people always shout,  
'There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt!'  
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!"

Even after leaving the campfire, the campers continued to sing, and Anne let herself join along. Sure, the song was annoying and inane, but there was something strangely fun about singing it with the group. And with only one verse, it was easily to learn, too.

"John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt,  
His name is my name, too!  
Whenever we go out, the people always shout,  
'There goes John Jacob Jingleheimer-Schmidt!'  
La-la-la-la-la-la-la-la!"

The girls burst into the cabin, singing and laughing, and the cheer seemed to be infectious. Anne was beginning to wonder why she'd been so convinced summer camp was a bad thing.

Maybe her parents hadn't been trying to be cruel after all. They must've wanted her to come here and see how much fun good, wholesome activities could be. Because they _were_ fun—and Anne wanted to stay right there at camp and keep having that fun.

"Hey, when it's time for lights out, let's all huddle together and tell _spooooky_ ghost stories," Melissa said in a stage whisper.

Her suggestion made the girls around her break into excited giggles, and Anne and Rebecca were right along with the crowd.

* * *

Once they'd exhausted themselves of ghost stories, the girls headed back to the bunks to catch a few hours of sleep before their wake up call. Rebecca waited until it was quiet in the cabin before she climbed down to Anne's bunk below.

"Anne?" she whispered, reaching out to tap her friend on the shoulder. "Are you awake?"

"Yeah, I'm awake," Anne replied as she sat up, blinking. "What is it? You don't…still want to try to escape, do you?" Though it had been the most appealing thought in the world the night before, the idea of leaving the camp to spend the next few weeks on the lam no longer seemed like a good one to Anne. Not when there were so many ways to enjoy herself right here.

"No," Rebecca said with a shake of her head. "That's why I came down—to make sure you didn't still want to either. Today was really fun, and I think I'm starting to like it here. I want to stay for the whole month."

"Me, too," Anne agreed. "If anything, I wish we could stay longer."

"So do I. I don't know why I thought this would be so bad. There's all this fresh air and pretty trees. Ooh, and the fuzzy woodland creatures, too!"

"And tomorrow's arts and crafts day," Anne added, bouncing a little as she spoke. "I'm looking forward to making a yarn vase."

"Me, too," Rebecca said, grinning. "I saw the yarn—they have rainbow."

"Oh, that'll be really pretty!" Anne replied, forcing herself to keep her voice down so she wouldn't wake the other girls, despite her excitement. "And I heard some of the other kids saying we might get to paint birdhouses later, too."

"So we're staying then?"

"Definitely," Anne told her friend with a nod of her head. "I just know this is going to be the best summer _ever_."

Rebecca nodded enthusiastically in response, then said, "Well, it's lights out, so we both need to be asleep, I just wanted to check with you."

"Okay. Good night, Becca."

"Good night, Anne."

Rebecca gave Anne a quick, friendly hug before climbing back up to her bunk to sleep.

* * *

Anne had bounded out of bed that morning, eager to face the day. She'd giggled with the other girls as they'd gotten ready and headed out to breakfast, singing as they marched to the dining hall.

Arts and crafts time had been just as wonderful as Anne had thought, and she'd beamed with pride when both Dan and Carrie had complimented her on her vase.

It wasn't until that night when they were gathered around the campfire that Anne realized something was wrong.

_Terribly, terribly wrong._

Her arm was wrapped around Melissa's as they swayed back and forth, singing a song Anne inexplicably seemed to know the words to, despite the fact she'd never heard it before. And she was _cheery_—_peppy_ even.

A little voice in the back of her head seemed to push forward, fighting against a fog Anne hadn't even realized was there until that moment.

_I'm never cheery. Not like this._

And she wasn't. _Ever_. As a matter of fact, she went out of her way to avoid anything that may have even _resembled_ this flavor of cheeriness.

_You're happy. You love it at camp. You want to stay here and be happy._

Anne shook her head. _That voice wasn't hers_. She took a deep breath, trying to separate her thoughts from the intruding ones. Now that she recognized something was wrong, she could feel the tell-tale signs of a spell invading her mind.

And then it hit her. _The songs_. They were serving as a mystical chant to work the effects of the spell.

_She'd known those things were evil._

"Anne, sweetie, are you okay?"

Anne looked beside her at the sound of Carrie's voice, her eyes widening as she saw the woman's face flash for a moment, revealing something hideous and demonic before her human features resurfaced. "My stomach's feeling sort of flippy," Anne replied softly, draping her arm over her abdomen and making a face. "I don't think dinner agreed with me."

"Oh, you poor thing," Carrie said soothingly, and Anne forced herself not to flinch when Carrie put her hand over her forehead. "Do you need to go back to your cabin and rest?"

"Is that all right?" Anne asked with her most pitiful expression.

"Of course, sweetie. You just go get some rest."

With a nod, Anne got to her feet, walking weakly until she knew she was no longer visible from the campfire.

Then, she ran.

* * *


	5. Chapter Five

As soon as she got back to her cabin, Anne scrambled around in her bag until she found her music player. The sounds of the campfire songs were still audible in the distance, and now that she'd acknowledged them as the source of the spell, she could feel them fighting to take hold again in her mind. She needed to push them out of her mind once and for all.

She turned the volume all the way up as she put on her headphones, sighing in relief as the Runaways blasted her eardrums, Joan Jett forcing away the last of the spell's foothold in her mind.

Anne sat down on the edge of the bed, running her fingers through her hair as she tried to regroup. She was stranded in Connecticut with demons who were brainwashing children with camp songs.

_Hadn't she _told _her parents this was a bad idea?_

She needed a plan, someway to figure out why this was happening and what she had to do to stop it. But first, she needed to get Rebecca out from under the spell, too. Whatever she was up against, Anne knew she'd need help in facing it.

Luck must've been on her side finally, Anne decided, as Rebecca walked into the cabin. "Anne? Are you all right? I saw you leave, and Carrie said you had a stomach ache."

Anne jumped up, slipping her headphones over Rebecca's head before she could protest. After a moment, Rebecca's eyes widened, and she yelled, "They're brainwashing us!" before slapping her hand over her mouth at realizing how loud she was.

Rebecca slid the headphones down so they hung around her neck, the music still faint in the room. "They've got a really powerful cloaking spell going," she hissed. "I can feel it now that I'm aware of it."

"I know," Anne replied with a nod. "I'm catching all sorts of things I didn't before. This place reeks of demons for one thing." She wrinkled her nose. "Ugh. I don't know how I missed that…"

"Who do you think it is? The counselors?"

"I know Carrie's involved," Anne said. "When I realized what was happening, I looked at her, and for a moment, I saw what I suppose is her true face." She shuddered at the memory. "It wasn't pretty."

"So what are they, child eating demons?" Rebecca asked, her eyes widening at the thought.

"Maybe, but I think it's more than that. For one thing, people have been coming here for years, and I haven't heard anything about kids being snack food. And for another, they haven't come after anyone yet. They're just keeping us complacent, biding their time."

"So you think they're waiting for something?"

Anne nodded again. "I do. If they just wanted to kill us all, they wouldn't go through the trouble of setting up an elaborate cloaking spell, at least not for this long. There would've been a camper massacre by now."

"Good point," Rebecca replied. "But what are they waiting for?"

"I for one am not going to wait around to find out," Anne said. "Come lights out tonight, they're going down. No one brainwashes me into enjoying bloody arts and crafts time and gets away with it."

"But Anne, there's two of us, and who knows how many of them. Some of the other campers could even be demons, for all we know."

"Yes, but we have the element of surprise. They have no idea who we are, or that we're on to them. Besides, I come from a family of odds-defiers. I can do this."

Rebecca looked less than certain. "Anne, I don't…"

"Trust me, Becca. I've already got a plan. Besides, what choice do we have? Sit around and wait for the demons to do whatever evil they're plotting?"

"We could call our parents, tell them what's going on," Rebecca suggested.

"_If_ they believe us and don't think it's just a scheme to get out of our punishment, they'll still have to fly over from London. By that point it could be too late—the demons could've already carried out their plan or they could've caught on to us. A transatlantic phone call alone could very well be enough to tip them off."

"Right then," Rebecca said, her expression shifting to one of determination. "You said you have a plan. What do you need me to do?"

"Do you think you could work a little cloaking mojo of your own? At least enough for us to sneak out of here tonight undetected?"

"Yeah, I can," Rebecca replied. "No problem there."

"Good."

"What are you going to do?"

Anne reached into her bag again, this time pulling out her father's old silver Zippo lighter. She turned around to face Rebecca again, a smile on her face as a flame erupted from the lighter.

"I'm going to push the odds a little more in our favor."

* * *

Rebecca reminded herself she had nothing to be nervous about. It wasn't as if this was the first time she'd ever performed a cloaking spell—far from it. She was a powerful witch, especially considering her age, and she could do this in her sleep.

Still, she couldn't keep her hands from shaking.

"It's okay," Anne whispered as she placed her hand on Rebecca's shoulder. "Whatever happens tonight, they aren't going to get you. I won't let them."

Rebecca met Anne's eyes and saw the steely determination in there. Even with the odds stacked against them, Rebecca knew her friend. Anne _would_ come out of this on the winning side. There was no other choice, and Anne knew it.

"Right," Rebecca whispered back with a quick nod of her head. "Let's do this thing."

Rebecca let her eyes slide shut as she chanted in a low whisper, the air around both her and Anne shimmering as the cloaking spell fell into place. Once she felt it was firmly in place, Rebecca opened her eyes again and gave Anne a nod.

"Good to go?" Anne asked in a whisper.

"Yeah. As of now, we're invisible. I don't know how strong it is or if they won't be able to break it if they figure out what's going on, however," Rebecca whispered back.

"That's fine. It just needs to hold up long enough to get us to the activities hut."

Puzzled, Rebecca asked, "Why do you need to get to the activities hut?"

Anne grabbed Rebecca's hand and started pulling her along. "I'll show you when we get there, but let's get going now. We don't have a lot of time to waste."

Knowing Anne was right and time was of the essence, Rebecca followed her out of the cabin.

* * *

"Annie, you're a genius."

"I know, aren't I?" Anne replied with a grin as she tested the string of a bow with her fingers. "Not quite the crossbow I'm used to, but it's good enough. Now help me tip them."

Rebecca smiled back as she realized Anne had more up her sleeve than just the bows and arrows. "That's what you're using the lighter for, isn't it?"

Anne nodded. "Too many demons can just yank an arrow right out, but there's not many who won't be at least slowed down by a flaming one. There's paint thinner over there. That should be flammable enough to use as an accelerant."

"You're a wily little pyro."

"It's what I pride myself on." Anne stopped, perking up in a way that Rebecca had long since learned to recognize as meaning she'd heard something. "Time to check how well that cloaking spell of yours is working," she said as she pulled Rebecca over into the shadows. "Carrie and Dan are coming this way."

Moments later, Rebecca could hear their approach as well, and soon, the door to the activities hut flew open. Dan and Carrie stormed in, and with them, Rebecca could feel their cloaking spell pushing at the edge of her mind again. She shook it off, and could hardly contain her gasp as she looked at them now.

_They were demons_. Hideous and leathery, with fearsome claws and dripping fangs.

Somehow, the camp counselor uniforms didn't make them any less terrifying.

Rebecca ventured a glance at Anne and while her expression was stoic, she could tell from her friend's eyes that she was seeing the same thing she was.

"The horrid little brats couldn't have gotten far," Carrie hissed. "If they'd left the campgrounds, we would've been alerted."

"They're still here," Dan replied. "And when we find them, I will tear their eyes from their skulls. We have waited too long and gone through too many preparations to fail in restoring Kalesh."

"We will not fail," Carrie said. "We swore to our lord when he was banished from this dimension that we would restore him to his former seat of power upon his return, and that we will do. We will find the troublemakers, and then Kalesh will feed on their souls." Carrie turned and left the activities hut, Dan close on her heels.

Once she was certain Dan and Carrie were gone, Anne let out the breath she was holding. "Do you know who this Kalesh is?" she asked Rebecca.

Rebecca shook her head. "No clue." She let out a heavy sigh. "I wish my da were here. He'd know. Probably."

"Well, we've got enough to go on for now," Anne said. "They want to bring Kalesh into this dimension, and he eats souls. Hopefully, anything else about him won't be pertinent because we'll kill the demonic counselors before Kalesh becomes a problem himself."

"Okay, sounds like a plan we can…" Rebecca stopped, her eyes growing wide. "Do you think that's why they want all of us here? To feed our souls to Kalesh?"

Anne nodded, even as the look on her face made it clear how repulsive she thought that idea was. "If he's been banished to another dimension, then he's probably weakened, which will mean they'd want to provide him with a big meal—and children's souls tend to be the best for that."

Rebecca's face wrinkled in disgust. "So they've what, lured in food for their leader by setting up a fake summer camp?" She shook her head. "Every time I think demons can't get any more repulsive, they push that envelope."

"Well, we're about to throw a spanner in the works. They obviously didn't account for any of the kids they lured in to be capable of handling this sort of thing." Anne stood back up and made her way over to the supplies she planned to use to tip the arrows.

"And are we? I mean, we've never exactly faced an apocalypse without our parents before."

Anne turned at that, and for a moment, her eyes flashed a feral yellow. "Oh, we are. These bastards are about to learn exactly why you don't screw with a Summers."

* * *

With a bow in one hand and a machete she'd found in a locked cabinet in the other, Anne crept, crouched, towards the counselors' cabin, Rebecca following closely behind.

"Stay close to me," Anne whispered to Rebecca. "I'm a bit more durable than you."

Rebecca nodded her assent, not about to argue the point with Anne in an ill-conceived attempt at nobility. She'd do anything for her friend, but she also knew that if one of them was going to be seriously injured in this battle, odds were it was going to be her and not the child of a vampire—of the living variety as he may be—and a Slayer.

Anne moved to the window, peeking in and swallowing a gasp at what she saw. The counselor's cabin as crawling with demons, many of which must've been staying hidden from the campers by not coming out at all. "There's more than I thought," she hissed.

Rebecca's eyes widened. "More than you can handle?"

"Hell no. I'm going to set the whole building on fire."

"Oh. Well, carry on then."

"Stand back. I need to break this window, and then things are going to get ugly."

Quickly, Rebecca moved backwards, ducking as Anne smashed the machete against the window.

Every demon in the cabin turned its eyes towards the window, but Anne was quick, and before they could move, she had her first arrow pulled and lit. It soared through the air and landed in a chair cushion, the chair immediately bursting into flames.

Dan, still dressed in his uniform, leapt to his feet, bellowing to his fellow demons. Anne knew the moment the cloaking spell failed, as Dan turned and lowered his cold, reptilian eyes on her.

"They see us," Anne said as she prepared a second arrow.

"Do I need to try to get the spell back up?" Rebecca asked.

Anne shook her head. "No. I don't think there's any reason to try to hide when I'm here shooting flaming arrows." She lit the arrow in her bow and let it fly.

"Good point."

The fire was rapidly spreading, and Anne grinned to herself as her next arrow hit one of the demons squarely in the chest. It let out an unearthly bellow before it burst into flames and disappeared in a flash.

"Ooh…I like the ones that do that!" Anne exclaimed in glee as she reloaded her bow.

Inside the cabin, the demons scrambled, trying to escape the flames and Anne's expert aim. With a wicked grin, Anne got Carrie in her sights and let the arrow fly. "Chastise me on my technique, will you," Anne said smugly as she watched Carrie burst into flames. "Take that, bitch."

Anne reached behind her, ready to grab another arrow, when she heard Rebecca cry. She turned, her heart skipping as she saw Dan holding Rebecca up with his clawed hands wrapped around her neck.

"Put the weapon down, or I snap her neck."

Fear truly gripping her for the first time since she'd started her siege, Anne dropped her bow.

* * *


	6. Chapter Six

"I don't know who you little brats think you are, but you aren't going to stop me," Dan hissed, his hand still wrapped around Rebecca's neck.

"You're really going to want to put her down," Anne said, doing what she could to inject calm into her voice, even as she mentally kicked herself for not being aware of Dan right behind her. _How could she have been so stupid?_

"I've spent twenty years being a damn _camp counselor_ to make sure I had enough souls to feed Kalesh. Do you honestly think I'm going to let two little girls make all of that be for nothing?"

Anne's eyes flickered to Rebecca's, and she bit back a smile as she saw a white light cover the orbs. "I don't think you're going to _let_ us do anything there, Counselor Dan—but I do think we're still going to kick your slimy demon arse."

"You're just children!" Dan bellowed. "You can't…"

Before Dan could finish his sentence, he was thrown backwards, the force of the energy wave Rebecca had called forth sending him to the ground.

"We're not _just_ children," Rebecca snarled, anger in her eyes. "And you're gonna fry."

Rebecca stepped to the side, revealing Anne now once again armed with her bow, arrow ready. She flicked open the Zippo and lit the tip, smirking at the look of surprise on Dan's face before she let it fly.

_Just children indeed…

* * *

_

With their leaders gone, the remaining demons scrambled out of the burning cabin, only to have Rebecca and Anne waiting for them outside.

It wasn't long until they were all no more.

Anne watched the counselor's cabin burn, her arms crossed over her chest and a smirk on her face.

"Now that's one campfire I can admire," she said, nudging Rebecca with her elbow.

Rebecca chuckled in response. "Too bad we don't have any marshmallows."

Anne replied with a laugh before she sighed. "I suppose we should put it out before it spreads to the woods. Responsible thing to do and all that. Can you…?"

"Might as well," Rebecca said. "I've already gone over my magical quota tonight anyway." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then shouted a Latin command at the blaze, making it quickly smolder down to embers, then nothing.

"I think your father will understand the heavy use of magicks tonight," Anne said as she regarded the remains of the cabin. "Special circumstances on account of the impending apocalypse."

"Bloody hell, I hope so. I think I've already been in enough trouble for one summer."

"For once, I think I'm going to have to agree with that sentiment." Anne brushed her hands together. "Well, I think we've done as much damage as we can here. I'd say it's time to make that transatlantic phone call and try to convince our parents we're not just making all of this up to get out of here."

"They better not make us stay here anyway," Rebecca grumbled. "I think I've had more than my fill of the Great Outdoors."

"God, I hope so, too," Anne replied, shivering at the mere _thought_ of spending any more time there. "I am definitely over this place."

Rebecca and Anne turned in the direction of the camp's only telephone when a scream ripped through the night, stopping them both in their tracks.

Anne whipped her head over towards Rebecca. "That's coming from the cabins," she said before breaking out into a superpowered run.

Deciding there really was no reason to hold herself back now, Rebecca magically enhanced her own speed and took off after Anne.

Anne and Rebecca crouched down outside the window, assessing the situation inside the cabin. "I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that's Kalesh," Anne remarked.

"I'd be inclined to agree," Rebecca replied. "What are we going to do?"

Her mouth a grim line of determination, Anne declared, "I'm going to fight him."

"Have you gone _completely_ mad?" Rebecca asked in a harsh whisper. "Anne, that bloke is _huge_, and he looks a little less flammable than the others, what with the hard scales covering him and all."

"I can take him," Anne insisted, her shoulders squared.

"Anne, I know you're one hell of a fighter, especially considering you're only fourteen years old, but that guy looks like he could take your _da_ out. You can't take him on yourself, and I don't think I can be much help…"

Anne turned to Rebecca sharply. "You're not going to be _any_ help where this fight is concerned. I want you to turn around right now, run to the phone, and call our parents. Then, I want you to get the hell off this campground."

"_What_?! Anne, I can't just leave you…"

"Rebecca, you have to. If I don't make it, I want someone to know what's going on in time to stop Kalesh from getting very far."

As much as she didn't like it, Rebecca saw Anne's point. Still, leaving her friend to face what could be certain death was not something she felt prepared to do. "Annie, I can't…"

Another scream pierced the night, and Anne turned quickly to see Kalesh advancing towards one of the campers, his hands raised to strike. "_Go_. Now!"

Without waiting for further discussion from Rebecca, Anne leapt to her feet and ran to the cabin door, kicking it open with her sturdy boot. "Oi, ugly!" she yelled. "You want a soul? Come and get mine!"

Rebecca ventured one last glance at Anne, whispering a quick, "_Protect her_," before she ran back in the direction of the telephone.

Kalesh turned to Anne, roaring. "You _dare_ to challenge me?"

"Yeah. I dare to do a lot of things, wanker. Now come and get your scaly arse handed to you."

Kalesh roared again and charged at Anne, only to have her move at the last moment, avoiding his blow. When Kalesh came back after her, Anne struck, hitting him with all her strength in the chest.

His scales her smooth and black, yet as she hit them, it was as if she was attempting to punch through solid rock. Her eyes widened as she realized she hadn't even managed to hurt him, and Kalesh responded by backhanding her hard enough to send her flying across the room and into one of the bunks, the wood splintering against her.

"I believe I shall enjoy breaking you, insolent child," Kalesh said as he stalked back towards Anne, a sneer on his cold, demonic features.

Anne noticed the campers running from the cabin while Kalesh was distracted with her, and she hoped, if nothing else, they'd make it out of there alive.

She pulled herself up, wiping the blood off her face from where Kalesh had struck her. "I'm gonna make you work for it, you know."

Kalesh cocked his head to one side, regarding Anne for a moment. "You are not broken at all. You are not _human_."

"Nope, 'fraid not," Anne replied. She rotated her neck, working out a kink, then met Kalesh's eyes. "As a matter of fact, I think we should finish this the proper way—demon to demon." She snarled as her features changed, her eyes shifting to yellow as slight ridges marred her brow.

Kalesh sneered. "Part demon as you may be, I shall still crush you."

Anne responded by running for the back wall of the cabin, then launching herself off of it to come around and kick Kalesh in the head. His neck craned backwards, the demon stumbling as Anne came back down to her feet, crouched in a defensive position.

Kalesh roared loud enough to shake the rafters before he struck out at Anne again, his fist connecting with her cheek. Anne reeled from the blow, then snarled and leapt up again, using her full weight to push Kalesh backwards, sending him flailing through a window.

He bellowed again as he rose back up, shaking shards of broken glass away from him. "I am done fooling around, child!" the demon announced before delivering a swift kick that sent Anne flying again.

Anne didn't realize she'd landed on something until Kalesh began to howl, his massive hands moving to cover his ears. She cocked her head, listening to the music now coming through the headphones she'd earlier discarded.

_Can't stay at home, can't stay at school  
Old folks say, ya poor little fool  
Down the street, I'm the girl next door  
I'm the fox you've been waiting for_

An idea forming in her head, Anne grabbed the music player and ran towards Kalesh again, kicking him to make him stumble backwards and drop his hands from his ears. She leapt up then, slapping the headphones over his head before he had a chance to figure out what she was doing.

_Hello Daddy, hello Mom  
I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb  
Hello world, I'm your wild girl  
I'm your ch ch ch ch ch cherry bomb_

Kalesh let out one more cry, clawing desperately at the headphones. However, before he had a chance to get them off, his head exploded, the force of the blast throwing Anne once again across the room.

Anne sat for a moment, stunned, before she pulled up to her feet and shook herself off. She walked over to what was left of Kalesh, frowning as she picked up her ruined music player.

"Well, bollocks," she muttered before dropping it back to the ground and leaving the cabin.

* * *

Rebecca had told herself over and over again that Anne _had_ to make it out alive, but she couldn't really believe it until she saw Anne walk into the room just as she was hanging up the phone.

"Are they coming?" Anne asked, wiping blood away from her eye as it dripped from a cut on her forehead.

"They were running for a Council jet as I hung up," Rebecca replied. "Is Kalesh…?"

"Dead. Apparently, he's not a fan of punk music."

"What?" Rebecca asked with a confused frown.

"Joan Jett made his head go boom."

Rebecca's eyes widened. "Whoa. Are you serious?"

"Yup. Maybe that's why they had to go with such asinine songs. Anything else would've exploded the head of their lord," Anne replied as she scratched the back of her neck. "Anyway, you think while we wait for our ride home we could raid the nurse's station for some aspirin? I just got my arse royally handed to me by a gianormous demon, and I'm in a rather great deal of pain at the moment."

As soon as she spoke, Anne started to collapse, yet Rebecca rushed over and caught her, offering herself for support. "All right then. Aspirin it is."

Anne nodded, letting Rebecca help her towards the nurse's station. "You know," she said as they began to walk. "It could be the head trauma talking, but I'm starting to think this whole thing wasn't so bad after all. I mean, we did manage to save the world."

Rebecca came to a halt and looked Anne up and down, observing her myriad of cuts and bruises. "Yeah, that would be the head trauma. Come on, let's get you doped up and less bleedy."

Without protest, Anne let Rebecca lead her away.

* * *

The song used is "Cherry Bomb" by The Runaways. 


	7. Chapter Seven

By the next morning, the events of the night before had already begun to fade in the minds of the majority of the campers. The Council had quickly used its influence to make the "official" story that a bear had rampaged in the camp, knocking over a candle to start a fire in the counselors' cabin before coming into one of the girls' cabin, only to ultimately run away.

The parents seemed to buy the story as presented, happy simply to have their children safe, while the campers who had seen Kalesh the night before were eager to replace the image of a demon with that of a bear in their minds.

"At least if I have to leave camp early it means I won't have to spend anymore time around _her_," Melissa announced loudly as she walked past Anne.

Anne gaped as her hands went to her hips. "Well, there's gratitude for you. I bloody saved her life last night!"

She dropped her arms as she felt her mother's hand on her shoulder. "Welcome to my world. But you did good last night, Anne. I'm proud of you."

"I just did what I had to do," Anne said, trying to shrug it off, even as she blushed under her mother's praise.

"I for one can hardly believe you single handedly took on Kalesh," Giles said, his arm draped protectively around his daughter.

"I told you he'd know who he was," Rebecca said.

"Yes, well, I'd only heard of him from legends. I had no idea he truly existed," Giles replied. "But according to the legends, he was nearly invincible, and was only defeated when a warrior exposed him to the screeching of a harpy."

Rebecca and Anne shared a look before they both began to giggle.

"What's so funny?" Spike asked from beside Anne, his brow furrowed.

"How I defeated Kalesh," Anne explained. "I made him listen to Joan Jett."

Spike stared for a moment, dumbfounded, before he broke out into laughter. "Oh, that's bloody wonderful." He turned to Buffy and winked. "And here you've been telling me all this time punk music wasn't good for anything."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Seeing as it can apparently be substituted for the screeching of a harpy, I don't think I'm wrong."

"Before the two of you get into another one of your arguments that so often stand in for flirting, could we possibly move this to the plane?" Anya asked, tapping her foot. "I don't like this place, and I'd like to leave now."

"I'm with Anya on this one," Buffy replied. "Let's get out of here."

As the other three headed towards the plane, Anne lagged behind with her father. "I told you not to send me to this place, and look what happened," she said, a hand on her hip. "I was brainwashed by camp songs and had to fight a nearly-invincible demon. Don't you feel bad for making me go here now?"

"Nope," Spike replied with a roguish grin. "Not one bit."

Anne's jaw dropped for a moment before she screeched, "_What_?! How can you say that? I…I could've _died_!"

Spike smirked. "Yeah, but did you learn your lesson?"

"What?" Anne asked, blinking.

"I asked, did you learn your lesson?"

Anne frowned. "Well, yeah, I guess I did…"

"And what lesson would that be?" Spike asked, his eyebrow arching.

"If I'm going to do something like that, don't be stupid enough to get caught by the police?" Anne ventured.

Spike grinned. "There's my girl." He wrapped his arm around her and prodded her to start walking with him.

"Come on, Annie. Let's go home."

* * *

I'd only planned this to be a short, fun fic, so that's the end. I hope you enjoyed it, and please take a moment to leave a review and let me know what you thought. Thanks! 


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